Rep. Steve Lebsock accused of sexual harassment by fellow representative, urged to resign by Speaker of the House

Colorado House Speaker Crisanta Duran urged state lawmaker and treasurer candidateSteve Lebsock to resign after a colleague came forward to describe how he pushed her to have sex with him, a claim that hours later led to similar accusations from two other women who worked with Lebsock in his capacity as a legislator.

Democratic state Rep. Faith Winter told The Denver Post that Lebsock, D-Thornton, sexually harassed her at a 2016 party to celebrate the end of the legislative session, describing sexual acts and grabbing her by the elbow to get her to leave with him.

“I told him no. I told him he needed to leave," Winter said. "I told him he needed to go home. He started grabbing my elbow. He was trying to get me to go out of the bar. He was very angry.”

The alleged harassment ended when another lawmaker intervened. Three legislative leaders confirmed Winter told them the same story at the time, including former House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst. Winter also provided The Post with an email she sent to Lebsock days after the party in which she described his behavior that night.

Winter decided to go public with her story after she heard about another instance of harassment involving Lebsock. Public radio station KUNC published a report Friday alleging multiple allegations against him from nine fellow lawmakers, staffers and lobbyists.

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Moments after Winter's story became public, the House speaker announced she would temporarily remove Lebsock from his position as chairman of the House Local Government Committee and called on him to step down.

“I would expect that Representative Lebsock would consider the impact of his actions on his colleagues and the public confidence in our institution and do the right thing and resign," Duran said in a statement. "There is no place for those types of actions at the legislature.”

Lebsock said he did not want to comment on calls for him to resign, but in a lengthy interview with The Post, he denied grabbing Winter and said he does not recall making lewd comments.

“I'm extremely sorry that Rep. Winter has been hurt, but I can also say honestly that I do not remember ever saying anything inappropriate to Rep. Winter" at the legislative party, he said.

He added: "I can honestly tell you that I do not remember saying anything like that to Faith, ever. But in fairness, in complete fairness, we were all drinking. I had had quite a bit to drink that evening, as did most of the folks there. … I can't say with certainty about every single word that was spoken. I just honestly do not remember saying anything close to that."

Hours after Winter's claims, other women came forward with allegations about Lebsock's behavior.

Holly Tarry, a former animal welfare lobbyist, told The Denver Post that Lebsock made unwanted sexual advances more than once from 2013 to 2016. In one instance, she said, he asked her to have sex. She told him no, she said, and he made a crude joke in response.

"Our relationship was one where I was constantly pushing back on him, saying, ‘You can't talk to me that way' - which is one reason I didn't feel physically threatened by him. I pushed back on him a lot," she said.

Lebsock served as the chairman of the animal welfare caucus, and Tarry was the caucus administrator. She said she quit her job as a lobbyist "because of that kind of treatment, and not just from him," expressing concern about the atmosphere at the Capitol.

She went public with her story after she read Winter's account. "I think that it's so hard and so scary to come forward that if I have additional supporting evidence of her story I want to share it," she said. "I think she would do that for me."

Cassie Tanner says she was working as a legislative aide to a Democratic state lawmaker in 2014 when she encountered Lebsock at The 1up bar during a Denver Young Democrats event. She said he reached over and unbuttoned one of the buttons on her blouse, making a comment to the effect of "that's better."

"I was really embarrassed," she told The Post on Friday. "I kind of didn't want to make a big deal of it. He was a colleague. He is in a position of power. I had heard stories about him and been warned about him by other lobbyists and seasoned aides. He certainly had a reputation, so I feel like even talking to him at the bar - I felt embarrassed because I felt like I should have known something like that would happen even talking to him."

Tanner, who still involved in politics, says she has tried to avoid Lebsock ever since. She was at a recent meeting where he spoke about his run for treasurer, stoking a wave of negative emotions.

"Just seeing him up there, smiling and everyone acting like it was such a great thing, just made me ill. I went outside. I couldn't even listen to him to talk," Tanner said, adding that she came forward after reading the accusations of other women.

A message left with Lebsock seeking comment on the new allegations was not immediately returned.

Separately, the newly formed Colorado Lobbyists Association says it was aware of one harassment allegation against Lebsock and that it counseled the accuser to make a report.

“The Colorado Capitol has a beautiful golden dome on top, but it's a workplace like any other,” said Don Knox, who leads the group that formed about a month ago and which represents registered professional lobbyists. “The behavior within and outside the Capitol needs to be appropriate in all instances.”

“It's an incredibly difficult thing to do," Knox said of making an accusation. "Going public can threaten your effectiveness as a lobbyist because you rely on having professional business relationships with all government officials."

Winter, the state representative who represents Westminster, posted on Facebook about the national #MeToo campaign that in recent months has spotlighted the stories of victims of sexual harassment and assault. She said she was sexually abused at age 4.

“There is, for most women, an entire array of experiences from something as severe as being molested as a 4-year-old to not feeling safe when my colleague will not say no and getting angry to unwanted advances and smaller forms of sexual harassment,” she told The Post. “My post was about the whole array of experiences I've had as a woman, not just that incident.”

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